Sexism Online Games
Game Over: Sexist Bros Harassing Female Gamers Online You LoseIf you’re wondering what fuels men's sexist behaviour against women in the gaming industry, researchers may just have the answer: it’s because those gamers are losers.
The study, conducted by researchers Michael Kasumovic and Jeffrey Kuznekoff, looked at interactions between players over 163 games of Halo 3. Fortunately #notallmen acted the same, but players unfortunate enough to have two X chromosomes where often the target of men performing badly, who became aggressive and negative towards women. Basically, they suck at games and thus turned their frustration against female players.
These players are sexist because they're bad at video games
According to the study, generally …show more content…
men interacted cordially with each other regardless of their gaming skills, and talented male gamers networked peacefully with female players. It turned out that low-skilled players were more likely to harass female players.
Researchers believe this is a result of an increase in the number of women playing online games like Halo 3.
This is upsetting the “pre-existing social hierarchy”.
Game Over: Sexist Bros Harassing Female Gamers Online You Lose - …show more content…
Clapway
“As men often rely on aggression to maintain their dominant social status, the increase in hostility towards a woman by lower-status males may be an attempt to disregard a female’s performance and suppress her disturbance on the hierarchy to retain their social rank,” Kasumovic explained, sketching-out the social phenomenon.
Male-dominated industry but things are changing
Gaming has traditionally been male-dominated, but the industry is changing. Today, the gaming population is nearly equally split between men (52%) and women (48%). However, the industry remains male-biased resulting in women experiencing greater frequencies of sexist behaviour.
These findings could explain 2014′s Gamergate controversy during which several high profile female game developers were flooded with a torrent of misogynistic attacks. Factions of male gamers using sites like 4Chan and Reddit reportedly coordinated rape and death threats.
Game Over: Sexist Bros Harassing Female Gamers Online You Lose - Clapway
Thin line between free speech, PC, and female-directed hostility
Kasumovic believes that Halo 3 is actually a really good platform to understand the dynamics behind female-directed hostility in the large online community of players.
Because of anonymity, individuals generally behave expressively and honestly since there is no fear of payback.
Researchers believe that intervention is needed before sexist ideas “spill over in real-life interactions”. This topic is particularly interesting nowadays as news about Political Correctness (PC) are increasingly popular in the media. College kids may be too politically correct for Jerry Seinfeld, but sexism in the gaming industry is alive and kicking. We should be free to share our opinions about politics, gender and even race-related issues, but there must be a limit to how much we can get away with.
"Next time she shows up at a conference we... give her a crippling injury that's never going to fully heal... a good solid injury to the knees. I'd say a brain damage, but we don't want to make it so she ends up too retarded to fear us," this is just one of the thousands of messages independent game developer Zoe Quinn received during the #gamergate furore.
Online harassment in 'vidya
games'
A Pew Research Center's report on online harassment unveiled that while social media is the most common scene of harassment, the realm of online gaming is particularly bad. Overall 73 percent of adult American internet users have witnessed online harassment, while 40 percent have been the victims.
Do you believe that bad gamers are more likely to engage in sexist behaviours? Have you ever witnessed or been a victim of harassment online? Share your experiences in the comments section below.
The study, conducted by researchers Michael Kasumovic and Jeffrey Kuznekoff, looked at interactions between players over 163 games of Halo 3. Fortunately #notallmen acted the same, but players unfortunate enough to have two X chromosomes where often the target of men performing badly, who became aggressive and negative towards women. Basically, they suck at games and thus turned their frustration against female players.
These players are sexist because they're bad at video games
According to the study, generally …show more content…
men interacted cordially with each other regardless of their gaming skills, and talented male gamers networked peacefully with female players. It turned out that low-skilled players were more likely to harass female players.
Researchers believe this is a result of an increase in the number of women playing online games like Halo 3.
This is upsetting the “pre-existing social hierarchy”.
Game Over: Sexist Bros Harassing Female Gamers Online You Lose - …show more content…
Clapway
“As men often rely on aggression to maintain their dominant social status, the increase in hostility towards a woman by lower-status males may be an attempt to disregard a female’s performance and suppress her disturbance on the hierarchy to retain their social rank,” Kasumovic explained, sketching-out the social phenomenon.
Male-dominated industry but things are changing
Gaming has traditionally been male-dominated, but the industry is changing. Today, the gaming population is nearly equally split between men (52%) and women (48%). However, the industry remains male-biased resulting in women experiencing greater frequencies of sexist behaviour.
These findings could explain 2014′s Gamergate controversy during which several high profile female game developers were flooded with a torrent of misogynistic attacks. Factions of male gamers using sites like 4Chan and Reddit reportedly coordinated rape and death threats.
Game Over: Sexist Bros Harassing Female Gamers Online You Lose - Clapway
Thin line between free speech, PC, and female-directed hostility
Kasumovic believes that Halo 3 is actually a really good platform to understand the dynamics behind female-directed hostility in the large online community of players.
Because of anonymity, individuals generally behave expressively and honestly since there is no fear of payback.
Researchers believe that intervention is needed before sexist ideas “spill over in real-life interactions”. This topic is particularly interesting nowadays as news about Political Correctness (PC) are increasingly popular in the media. College kids may be too politically correct for Jerry Seinfeld, but sexism in the gaming industry is alive and kicking. We should be free to share our opinions about politics, gender and even race-related issues, but there must be a limit to how much we can get away with.
"Next time she shows up at a conference we... give her a crippling injury that's never going to fully heal... a good solid injury to the knees. I'd say a brain damage, but we don't want to make it so she ends up too retarded to fear us," this is just one of the thousands of messages independent game developer Zoe Quinn received during the #gamergate furore.
Online harassment in 'vidya
games'
A Pew Research Center's report on online harassment unveiled that while social media is the most common scene of harassment, the realm of online gaming is particularly bad. Overall 73 percent of adult American internet users have witnessed online harassment, while 40 percent have been the victims.
Do you believe that bad gamers are more likely to engage in sexist behaviours? Have you ever witnessed or been a victim of harassment online? Share your experiences in the comments section below.